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Compare Prices on MSC Orchestra Eastern Caribbean Cruises

1st Vacation in a long time

Sail Date:
April 2009

Destination:
Eastern Caribbean

Embarkation:
Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades)

OK... first of all I booked this cruise because of the price, I got a great deal. it was like 1k for 2 of us for 7 days. I booked the interior room because it was the cheapest. I also booked this cruise because my husband is from Italy and he didn't really want to go on a cruise so i thought this would make it a little more comfortable for him.

The embarkation was actually pretty smooth except I think we showed up when everyone else did so there was a huge line! We were surprised to find out that we were upgraded for free to a balcony room, which was great! Yes the rooms are small, but what do you expect on a ship that's supposed to have enough rooms and space for all their passengers? We didn't have fresh fruit like promised when we arrived but it was there when we returned from dinner. But honestly we could care less, we didn't even eat it. Our room attendant introduced himself when we got there, but after that we never saw him again. He did keep our room clean ALL the More
time though! You have a card you have to put in a slot that lets them know you are in your room or not.

Food- Im kind of picky, but not too bad, and I personally thought that the sit down food was great! the buffet food was OK -some good- some weird- some bad haha. We never got to try the pizzeria, but the pizza at the buffet was awful. The gelato, for $2 was amazing! You must try it!! Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner you could do either sit down, or buffet. We mostly did sit down. You have so many different choices that are better that way. You could always get juice, coffee, tea or water free with every meal. Soda and alcohol cost extra. Alcohol was about 7$ a drink. i dont remember how much beer was.

The Pool Deck- we only laid out 1 time, mostly because of the people. Which had NOTHING to do with the cruise. People on this trip for some reason were SO RUDE!!! Not the employees, THE GUESTS! If you want a spot anywhere, with a chair you better be out there at 8am! what really pissed me off was people come and "claim" a chair then leave and dont come back for hours, so the people looking for chairs cant sit down! We never got in the pools they were always too crowded.. They always had some kind of skit or game or srt project going on outside. Theres ping pong as well.

The Ports- They were always ON TIME and were there as long as they claimed they would be. The only place that was kind of bad on time was Antigua- 7am to 1pm. CAYO LAVENTADO- basically all it is, is a beach. You have to try the pina coladas and lobster tho, they were AMAZING!!! The beach was pretty, water clear, but really small. St. JOHN- we went snorkeling on the catamaran which was booked by MSC. It was ok, we didn't see anything, the only good thing about it was all the free alcohol!! So i cant tell you much about the island itself. ANTIGUA- we did a taxi tour which was interesting..the water there is absolutely gorgeous! NASSAU- this is where we did all of our shopping, you must get the rum cake from tortuga, it is so good. All in all the ports were good, we only were on the beach once and that was in cayo. I wish we would have laid out more.

NIGHTLY SHOWS- THey were great! some didn't make sense, haha but they were entertaining. They had magic, singers, ballet, dancing, circus acts, all in all it was fun.

My opinion on the whole trip (summed up) I think the people on here that complain about everything should shut the hell up!! Sorry for the language, but unless they do something seriously wrong like loose your luggage, or dont have a room for you, or i dont know, spit on you or something, then you dont have a reason to be mad! Not just because you didn't like the food and they didn't leave towel animals on your bed! SO WHAT!!! You get what you pay for. Obviously you get all that stuff on other cruises which are 3x more expensive! If you care that much about all that stuff then book a different cruise!! You get pretty decent food, shows, nightlife, ocean, sun, shopping, sightseeing, and VACATION! I do agree it probably is geared more for older people, but i saw plenty of kids running around. They are free after all. They do all the announcements in like 4 different languages which does get old but also they have so many different cultures on the boat i think its pretty polite of them. Not to assume everyone understands English. I thought the staff was super nice! They were always helpful and attentive. And they worked their butts off too. They work 9 months back to back, give them a break!

I think if you cant really afford the top dog cruises, definitely take this cruise! It was well worth the money. Hopefully it goes as smooth as mine did, and hopefully you have an open mind, unlike others. AND PLEASE DONT BE RUDE TO OTHER PEOPLE ON THE BOAT!!!!! I hope it helps. If you have any questions I would be more then happy to answer them. Less